Sealing Fate
Ted and Aldo from Suiko4. You'll probably be more amused if you've seen the bath scene on the game with these two. Enjoy, you people.
Suikoden IV characters and settings are the property of their owners.
Edit: K'Arthur was very right about one line disrupting the flow of the story, it was in there to amuse a friend, but I've fixed it now.
Ted stared anxiously at what he could see of his cabin's door as he had been doing for, what felt like, all day. And in truth, save moving to check that the dresser blocking the door still stood securely, he had been doing more or less just that all day.
And with good reason!
A frown tugging at his features, Ted slid easily from where he sat on his bed and padded across the room to give the dresser a good shake, only smiling faintly when the oaken piece of furniture refused to budge. Yes, he had already checked it at least a dozen times, but one could never be too certain with Aldo running around.
The other boy had been pestering him non-stop and since that little fiasco in the hot springs… Well, Ted wasn't going to take any chances with Aldo getting into his room. Not one single chance.
As Ted sighed and moved back to take his ever-vigilant position on the mattress, his worst fears became reality and the doorknob slowly began to turn.
And then the door itself moved, bumping into the dresser before closing again.
Ted simply froze, breath held.
"Hello?"
Ted didn't answer.
Aldo didn't give up. "Ted? I know you're in there. You need to get out some! Why don't you come down to the bar with me? Louise bought some great new stuff in the last port and you have to try it! Come on? You can't stay in there forever!"
That's what you think, Ted thought darkly.
Aldo waited all of ten seconds before knocking on the door – something that Ted thought the other boy should have done in the first place. "Hey, Ted? What's blocking the door?"
Ted sighed heavily, and then lied. "Nothing. I… I think it's jammed."
A pause. Ted thought perhaps Aldo had gone away. Ted, despite his many years of life and experience, was wrong.
"I'll go find something to get it opened with," Aldo declared with a sound as if he had punched his fist into his palm in determination.
Well, that hadn't solved his problems. Ted sighed, running a hand through his hair. Why did bad things always happen to him…? Wasn't it enough that he had lived in that morbidly foggy ship for so long? Couldn't he have peace now?
"Err…" Ted began, indecisive as to what to say this time. "I… don't think that's a good idea. I'm fine here. The… sea pressure… must have swollen the wood. It should be back to normal once we leave this area."
"Sea pressure?" Aldo repeated skeptically, spurring another heavy sigh from Ted. It had been the best lie he could come up with so quickly…
"Sea pressure," Ted confirmed, falling just short of grimacing at the door and frowning slightly instead. "There are books all about it in the library. If you're bored, why don't you go read them…?"
Ted hoped the insistent boy would do just that, leaving him in his room to enjoy the peace and quiet.
"I'm going to get you out!"
"I don't want you to!" Ted answered quickly, eyeing the dresser as he wondered how long it would survive a full-out onslaught from Aldo's persistence.
"I'm not going to leave you in there to rot," Aldo insisted, his voice now accompanied by what sounded like a cautious kick at the door. "This thing shouldn't be too hard to knock down."
"Doors cost money to fix," Ted reminded half-heartedly.
"I'll pay for it!" countered Aldo cheerfully.
"If we just wait," tried Ted again, "the door will open later."
"But you'll be bored!"
Ted let out a long, tired sigh. Arguing wasn't getting him anywhere and worse – it was giving him a headache. What would it take for people to simply leave him alone to think?
Standing and crossing to sit in front of the dresser (and hopefully further insuring that no one would get in), Ted crossed his arms stubbornly. "I don't want to come out."
Another bout of silence.
Ted blinked as it lasted longer than all previous pauses. Was it possible? Could Aldo have really given up and left him alone? Usually he was so insistent… surely he hadn't gone away so easily…
"Aldo?" Ted called quietly. "Are you still there…?"
No answer.
Ted couldn't believe his luck! Finally, Aldo had decided to listen to his quiet requests to just be left to his own devices.
Feeling more relaxed than he had all week, Ted shoved himself up from where he sat on the floor and sank back onto the bed with a small smile. What he would do with this non-Aldo filled free time, Ted didn't know. But! What he did know was that he would enjoy it and that was that.
Minutes ticked by until finally, Ted was absolutely sure Aldo had gone away for good.
It was exactly when Ted had been lulled into a false sense of security that the door was hit with enough force to shake the bed Ted sat on.
"Okay, guys," Aldo's voice commanded. "Hit it again!"
The door rattled violently, sending the dresser sliding forward a few inches with the impact.
And at that moment, Ted decided to start looking for somewhere to hide.
"One, two, three!"
Ted winced as the dresser toppled over and the door slammed open with a derisive crack to reveal Aldo standing there thanking a few of the ship's crew as they sauntered off. Then Aldo was turning to him, and all hopes Ted had of hiding were dashed. … and then Aldo saw the dresser and stared at it, perplexed, for several moments.
"How'd that get there…?"
Ted shrugged weakly.
"Well, let's get to the hot springs," Aldo said brightly.
Ted blinked. "Weren't we going to the bar…?"
Aldo simply grinned in reply, shrugging slightly. "That was before I did all that work to get the door open for you!"
Ted stared, then sighed.
It wasn't any fun at all, sealing one's own fate.